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Sunday, August 10, 2014

Your Inner Warrior Princess

Once upon a time, in my la-la-land of ignorant bliss where I most
generally disregard the outside world, I received an email that was
degrading, insulting, hurt my feelings, and made me plain old mad. Ever receive one of those?

Skipping merrily along in the sparkly world in my head where I tend to
retreat when I'm focused on my work, minding my own business, I felt
blindsided by the vicious email. As I sat alternately fuming and sulking, pulling in the
edges of the hole of despair into which I'd so rudely been shoved, I felt justified in my anger. Like a comforting cloak, I could wrap myself up in pity and wallow in my misery for a while.

After several minutes of non-productive grousing, I decided enough was enough. I
needed to get up, get tough, and get over it. But that is so much easier
said than done. Especially when someone else's words cut me to the quick.

I needed some help.

So I envisioned a little kick-hiney, take-no-prisoners, warrior
princess who resides deep inside me. And when I need a little boost, I
can call on her to get tough and help me plow through my battles. Hokey? Yes. Cheesy? Quite possibly. But it is fun to envision a little warrior princess named Courage Thorgood and all that she can help me do.

Since I write about strong women, this little exercise helps me when I need to detail their strengths and the battles they fight against their weaknesses.

One of my favorite characters is Aundy from my Pendleton Petticoats series. She's strong and brave (much braver than I could ever hope to be!) and determined to succeed in life. I can envision her calling on her inner warrior princess to help her through some heart-wrenching situations.
The next time you are feeling battle-weary, find your
inner warrior princess – or prince. And if someone will let you have a
sword, even better!
Bravely tread forward!
*** A hopeless romantic with a
bit of sarcasm thrown in for good measure, Shanna Hatfield is a best-selling
author of clean romantic fiction written with a healthy dose of humor. In
addition to blogging and eating too much chocolate, she is completely smitten
with her husband, lovingly known as Captain Cavedweller. Shanna creates character-driven romances with realistic heroes and
heroines. Her historical westerns have been described as “reminiscent of the
era captured by Bonanza and The Virginian” while her contemporary works have
been called “laugh-out-loud funny, and a little heart-pumping sexy without
being explicit in any way.”

I hate when nasty real life intrudes on happy storyland. For me that can happen when I notice a bad review on one of my books. If it's really nasty, I have to sleep to get over it. But guaranteed by the following day I have moved on and laid the issue to rest. I tell myself that if someone wants to be nasty, it's their problem not mine. That works. So I guess I am my own warrior princess!